Resurrection Stone Resurfaced
by songbee
Summary: Harry wants to take a big step in his life, but he can't do it on his own.


**Author's Note: Warning, lovey-dovey stuff ahead! If admissions of love bother you, do NOT read on. ( )**

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Harry Potter, be it characters, story, or franchise. But the idea for the story is my own :D**

Resurrection Stone Resurfaced

Despite what he told Dumbledore three years previously, Harry found himself wishing he had kept the Resurrection stone. Of the three Hallows, it was the most infinitely precious – not only had it enabled him to defeat Lord Voldemort, but he had spoken, face to face, with his parents. And while he grew up, definitely since his entrance into the Wizarding world but even before, knowing they loved him, he never was able to seek their counsel before. Now, facing the biggest decision of his life, he wanted nothing more than to hear their words of guidance and wisdom and acceptance.

So, despite his misgivings about using the Stone for purely selfish purposes, he could not resist traveling back to Hogwarts and searching the forest until he found the small, black stone that he was so craving. But he didn't use it right there and then. He slipped it into his pocket, where it would lie alongside a small velvet box that fingered nervously.

Leaving the Hogwarts grounds so he could disapparate, Harry found himself next to the very familiar Burrow. Comfortable enough to just walk in after years of visits, and knowing he was practically family, he let himself in to the kitchen.

Mrs. Weasley was simultaneously cooking something on the stove and chopping up vegetable by the wave of her wand. "Harry, my dear! You're here! Won't you stay for dinner?" She said excitedly, "I really don't trust Kreacher to supply you with quality food."

"Not tonight, Mrs. Weasley," Harry answered quietly, "I have something I need to prepare for tomorrow for work. But I was wondering if Ginny is here…?"

"Of course, dear, she's in her room!" Mrs. Weasley's eyes took on a special gleam. It had been appearing a lot lately, whenever Harry and Ginny were together. She was expecting them to pull a Ron-and-Hermione and get engaged soon, and she was eagerly awaiting the news. Smiling slightly to himself, he walked up the stairs and knocked at Ginny's door.

If Ginny was surprised to see him there, she took it all in a stride. Her hair was still damp from a shower; she must have just gotten back from Quidditch practice. As a chaser on the Holyhead Harpies, she was kept very busy. Harry stepped closer to her and wrapped his arms around her, breathing in her flowery scent. She lifted her face up so he could kiss her softly.

"I need you to come with me somewhere," Harry told her.

"Now?" Ginny asked him, giving him a funny look.

"Please." Harry's voice was soft and Ginny nodded. "I'm taking you to Godric's Hollow, Ginny. I need you to meet my parents."

Ginny was touched. Harry never wanted anyone with him when he visited his parents' graves. It was too personal for him to share. After his initial visit with Hermione, he would disappear sometimes alone, and Ginny knew that's where he always went. He'd come back quiet and contemplative, deflecting questions about where he was. He'd go whenever he felt the urge, but he always made a sort of pilgrimage on the last day of each month, even if he had gone just the day before. But the one thing she could always count on was that he went alone. For him to want her there proved the depths of his love for her more than any time he had said "I love you."

Hand in hand, Harry and Ginny walked down the stairs and out the door. Ginny wrapped her arms around him and together they apparated to a village square. As they walked past a war obelisk, it turned into a staute of a man with untidy hair, his wife, and their baby. Ginny beamed up at the tiny, cooing Harry.

Harry pulled her towards the graveyard. Having been there many times now, he could stride confidently through the aisles of graves, until he had nearly reached his parents' graves.

Harry turned towards her hesitantly, "Could I just have a moment alone with them first?"

"Sure, Harry," she murmured, "but - ̏ she pulled him into a kiss, "First, I love you."

"I love you too," he said, although his grin was a little more somber than it usually was. Ginny couldn't begin to guess what it meant for him to be next to the graves of his parents. If it was anything like the agony she felt whenever she stood next to Fred's grave, and she was sure his pain was worse, it was like a stake thrusted through his heart. She always found it hard to breathe standing next to his grave, and she never had the strength for standing more than five minutes. And she always started sobbing when she began to think of why she was there. Always.

Harry walked over to the graves of his parents. A prickle of tears came to his eyes, and he felt an inexplicable stab of pain. He took the Stone out of his pocket and turned it over three times in his hand. The two people he most wanted to see appeared before him, but they did not look so pleased to see him.

"Harry, you should never have brought us here, did you learn nothing from the Tales of Beetle and the Bard?" began James Potter, somewhat sternly. "We do not belong in this world anymore."

"I know," Harry said softly, drinking in the image of his parents in front of him, "but I need you. One last time. I've never been able to talk to you about things in my life or decisions I made, but I want to take a big step, and I just didn't think I could do it without knowing I have your approval." His voice broke on the last word.

Lily Potter watched her son wipe a tear away from his eye, and the pain she felt watching him so upset was incomparable to the pair he must have felt and still be feeling. While it had been unbearable leaving her son, even to save his life, he had felt agony tenfold having to grow up without them. That they died to stop Voldemort was a consolation, but it did not alleviate the pain of separation. Placing a hand on James's shoulder, she murmured, "James, cut him some slack. He has the right to need us." And turning to Harry, she smiled and asked, "What is it, sweetheart?"

"Well…It's just…I want to ask Ginny Weasley to marry me. And I know you can't be at my wedding and you won't see grandchildren, but – "

"Harry, James interrupted gently, "We WILL see. We are a part of you. We will always be with you, right here." James pointed to Harry's heart.

Harry gave a slight grin and continued, "I just could never marry someone if you didn't approve of her."

"Harry, do you love her?" Lily asked, eyes shining slightly at the prospect of her son's happiness.

Harry nodded. "More than my own life."

"Then of course we approve," Lily smiled widely, while James nodded vigorously.

Harry's grin was widest of all. He brought Ginny over to the graves. Although she could not see Lily and James, she had the strangest feeling that they were there, watching her and Harry, and she knew instinctively that Harry felt their presences too.

"Mum, Dad, this is Ginny Weasley," Harry said to the air in front of him. Ginny assumed he was addressing the graves. "She has hair like yours, Mum, and she fought with us in the War. She kept me going on my journey to find the Horcruxes, just by me thinking of her. She used to be just Ron's little sister, but she is so much more than that now. She's the love of my life. And I wanted you to meet her. I think you'd love her too. She's extremely adept with a wand. Dad, you would have loved to see her Bat-Bogey hex. And she plays a wicked game of quidditch, Dad, she plays for the Holyhead Harpies. And…whenever I'm around her, I feel complete.

Ginny, blushing somewhat, felt a certain warmth about her, as if she was being drawn into a soft embrace. Harry, who could see Lily giving Ginny a hug, grinned. James clapped him on the back, saying, "Well, son, she's certainly a beauty. I hope you have many happy years together with her. Your mother and I are so proud of you."

Lily came to hug him as well, and while he couldn't actually feel anything, he imagined the warmth of skin and the weight of her arms. He understood it was time to say goodbye. He let the Stone slip into his pocket and his parents disappeared. Wrapping his arm around Ginny, they left the graveyard.

Harry and Ginny made their way through the streets until they were standing before the remains of a small house. Invisible to all Muggles who passed by, the house had been left alone for nearly 20 years, since the night Harry had become an orphan and had been marked as the only man who could defeat the most dangerous wizard ever to walk in Britain. The evidence of time was present in the vines crawling up the walls of the house; the grass growing through the floor, as seen through the first floor window; and the crumbling brick. The second floor had a massive hole, where the Killing Curse that failed to kill Harry and put Voldemort out of commission for 13 years rebounded. Harry, once afraid to enter the house, dragged Ginny in.

"This was our living room." Harry said quietly, "Once, when I was seeing Voldemort's thoughts, I saw the night he killed my parents." Ginny sucked in a shocked breath and looked wide-eyed at him. Harry ignored her look and continued. "Dad was entertaining me, making puffs of light come out of his wand. Mum came in and took me upstairs to put me to bed. That's when…that's when…"

Harry stopped and Ginny squeezed his hand comfortingly. Harry strengthened his resolve. "That's when HE entered the house. Dad ran out to stop him, yelling at my mum to take me and run. He didn't even have a wand. Voldemort killed him like he was nothing. And then he went after my mum and me. He gave my mum the chance to leave, all he wanted was me. But she wouldn't. So he killed her too. And then he tried to kill me. And because my mum died in an attempt to save me, she created a protection that kept me alive when he tried to kill me." Harry was shuddering at this point, reliving the memory. "All they wanted was for me to grow up happy and healthy, in a peaceful world. And I know, I KNOW, they're ECSTATIC that I have you, because you bring me that peace and sense of normalcy. When I'm with you, I'm not fraught with reminders of my past and all the people we've lost or the horrors of the war. I'm not Harry Potter, the boy who vanquished Lord Voldemort, I'm just Harry when I'm with you. Just Harry. Your Harry. And when I'm with you, I feel safe, more safe that I feel with anyone. I love you, Ginny. I love you so much that I can hardly stand to be away from you. You're so beautiful, but that's not what I love about you. You have an inner strength that emanates from you constantly. And when I'm with you, when I feel your love so strongly, I have that strength too. And when I'm around you, I never want to let you go. I want to be with you forever.

Ginny froze, suddenly realizing what he was doing and saying, and silently begged him to continue, wishing and wanting to hear the words she had waited to hear for so long. And oh-my-god, he was getting down on one knee and this was really happening and she felt like she was bursting inside with happiness and her eyes were filling with tears of the greatest joy imaginable, and he was looking up at her so earnestly that she could hardly stand it.

"My parents once stood in this house, with all the hope for the future. And even with the evils of the war going on, despite the pains they experienced daily, they had each other. The one that completed the other. You know that my Dad chased Mum, taking continuous rejection, until she finally stopped hating him and he stopped being such a prat and they finally got together. And when they did, it was like magic." Harry grinned. "You know, I often think of you doing what my father did, knowing from a young age exactly who you were perfect for and who was perfect for you, but waiting years and years for the other person to catch up. And now that I have, it's been magic. My mother's love is what saved me originally, but it was your love that kpt me going through dad after pointless day when we were searching for Horcruxes, and it was your love that kept me from retreating into an empty shell after the war was over and so much was lost. I could hardly stand it, but you were always there, helping me, guiding me, until I could stand on my own two feet again. And even then, you never let me go. And I never want you to again. I love you more that I love life itself. You know, someone once told me that marriage was a big commitment. But I'm already that committed to you. I haven't looked at another girl since that kiss in front of the whole Gryffindor common room. And I love you as if we are already married. I just wanted to make it official. So, Ginny Weasley," Harry took her hands into one of his own, and with the other drew the small velvet box out of his pocket and flipped it open, revealing the engagement ring inside, "Will you marry me?"


End file.
